When I was on the Disaffected Podcast I mentioned that the “woke” have a distorted view of the world. Sometimes people say others are wearing rose-colored glasses because their perception of the world is better than the reality of the actual world around them. But I said on that episode that “the woke” wear dirty glasses and perceive the world as worse than it actually is.
In this example of the glasses, “the woke” wear the glasses of critical theory. They see everything in the world through those lenses. The world is not rose-colored for them, but utterly ugly. They see racism everywhere because one of those spots on the glasses represents the belief in “systemic racism.” They see homophobia and transphobia everywhere because many of those spots represent all the beliefs about others’ “phobias”.
Because I spend so much time looking at beliefs and questioning my beliefs or others’ beliefs, I noticed this about these critical theorists. And seeing James Lindsay talk so much about this, I wondered if others don’t see it as easily as we do. I can see why. People don’t often consider if what they are thinking is a belief or fact of life.
Check out James’ work at
to hear what I’m saying from another perspective.The Drama Triangle “Box”
posted a substack essay I wrote earlier. James shared it in the midst of a Twitter thread on “Wizard’s Circles”. People in the drama triangle, for the most part, are stuck in the drama triangle and only see things through the lens of the drama triangle. They see persecutors, saviors, and victims. They can’t see outside of this perceptual “box.” They don’t see how a “victim” could have taken personal responsibility, and they don’t see the humanity in the “persecutors” because to them it is black and white, good vs evil. Because of that belief, to them, if you’re not “with them” then you must be against them. So if you have any disagreement with someone in the drama triangle they will label you a “persecutor.” They can’t see how you might disagree and also not be a “bad guy.” Why?
Why is it so black or white to them?
The reason for why it’s black or white to them is that they hold these so-called “truths” to be self-evident, that racism and transphobia (et al) is everywhere. If you don’t see these “truths” as they see them, then you must be complicit, ie a part of the problem.
Those spots on the glasses, those so-called “truths”, are not seen by everyone because they’re woke beliefs, not “peer-reviewed” actual truths or facts that everyone on earth agrees with.
Plenty of people disagree with the belief that simply because your skin is called “white” by others it means that you are inherently racist. Lots of people might call that belief racist (to pre-judge people based on skin color). The “woke” simply call it “reality” and then they wonder why you disagree with “reality” and label you a racist for not agreeing with their woke beliefs.
If many people disagree on something, then it means what you are dealing with is a belief not a fact.
Other people are not wearing the lenses of the “woke beliefs” that color their world so dark. This is how we know that what the “woke” believe is a belief and not an agreed-upon fact of reality.
Removing The Glasses
If you could take a “woke” person and remove those dirty woke glasses, they would see that the world is not as awful a place as they think it is, Republicans are not inherently evil, and there is more gray area and nuanced takes. Many Democrats are doing this with the #walkaway movement.
Many people out there are, in a sense, taking off glasses of preconceived notions. In 2019, if you asked people if they thought the governments could force them to close their businesses and destroy their livelihoods, many people would have thought that could never happen. They were wearing those rose-colored glasses where they saw the government as more freedom-loving than they actually were.
Logical Proofs & Faulty Premises
I’m a very logical person, so I found my logic class in college to be very interesting. A while back, I created compound logical proofs with the assumption that the bible was infallible to prove it was fallible. Some people found it silly that I used the first assumption that the bible was infallible if I didn’t believe it, but it matters to the only people who would need convincing to move from one belief (that it was infallible) to a new belief (that it could be fallible).
I understand about starting off with an assumption or premise. The “woke glasses” or “lens” in which they perceive things is their premise. Because it is a belief that is not shared by everyone in the world, I would say it’s a faulty premise.
A Few Faulty Premises of the “woke:”
All white people are racist
If you have a different skin color you can’t be racist
All men are toxic
Anyone against child grooming by LGBTQ+ groups is s trans- or homophobe
I also mentioned this PDF while on Disaffected: The Woke Religion: A Taxonomy. In the chart, anything listed under Supernatural Beliefs would fit into the category of faulty premises.
The “woke” have many false premises and are making many, many decisions based on them. They’re making extremely damaging decisions based on them. They are teaching these beliefs (as if they are facts) to students.
That said, I can say the same thing about the Republicans and their rose-colored glasses concerning the government and Big Pharma in the 90s. People believed that the government wouldn’t spy on the regular Joe and Big Pharma would still make a quality product if they didn’t have to pay out in the case of vaccine injury. Those rose-colored glasses were false premises that led to some very damaging decisions.
Take Off the Glasses & View Reality
We should strive to question our beliefs and take off these glasses whether they be rose-colored or extremely dirty. Do you see the world as better than it is? Do you trust people too much? Can’t believe that teachers would harm or indoctrinate students with false beliefs? It may be time to take off those glasses and come back to reality.
Do you believe that all cops are evil, all men are bad, or all women are psychos (as the MGTOW movement would have you believe)? It may be time to take off the dirty glasses and clean them up.
It’s time for us to question why we believe what we believe and sincerely ask, “is it true?” Don’t ask that question with motivated reasoning to prove your current beliefs correct, because you’ll never find the truth that way. You have to be willing to accept that you might be wrong.
Here is hoping that people will start questioning their beliefs more and allow for the fact that they could be wrong. Though you could read this article and think it’s all about other people, I would ask you to consider where you might have some false premises too. I know I do.